New Zealand worried about falling behind neighbor Australia in solving the gender gaps?
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
So where does that leave the United States, which is still caught up in an ideologial debate about whether boys are truly falling behind in school?
Still, New Zealand is worried.
It’s true what they say about Australia. The federal government investigated the issue and tested prototype interventions to solve the problem. The best of those solutions were then made available to schools interested in tackling the issue. (For more details, order my book. Did you happen to notice the “pre-order tab at the top of my site?).
As I discovered during my visit to Australia, however, making the interventions available doesn’t mean all schools will take advantage of the offer.
From the press release:
NZ needs to address boys’ education concerns
Thursday, 2 July 2009, 3:42 pm
Press Release: NZ School Trustees Association
Media Release
NZ needs to address boys’ education concerns
New Zealand is behind the eight ball when it comes to addressing concerns over boys’ education in schools.
That’s according to Auckland-based teachers Alison Derbyshire and Nicola Agnew, who are spreading the word on their findings of research into boys’ education.
Their research shows there is a significant gender gap in students’ achievement, especially in literacy-based subjects such as English.
Latest statistics from the 2008 NCEA results support their claim, with girls outperforming boys at every senior level.
